Innovative Secondary Education For Skills Enhancement

Background
This paper focuses on two key questions for sustainable
livelihoods: What skills are needed for employability in developing
countries, especially in Africa and Asia What skills
do students and secondary school leavers currently possess
It synthesizes a series of research studies commissioned by
the Results for Development Institute (R4D), supported by
the Rockefeller Foundation, that focused on Africa, South
Asia, and Southeast Asia and complements them with other
research material on skills issues in other regions.
The paper is in five sections. “Background” and “Introduction”
define terms, then briefly discuss the global labor
market, and, most significantly, also establish why secondary
education skills are important, both for individual livelihoods
and for overall economic growth. Section 1 examines
the skills needed for employability, from the perspective
of employers in the formal economy and more broadly in
the informal economy, noting also regional differences. The
inclusion of the informal economy is important. Most other
work on skills has been restricted to the formal economy.
Yet, in many developing countries, as many as nine out of
10 workers are employed in the informal economy. Section
2 then reviews the skills that students currently do or do
not have, based on various assessments and on what is
included in their curricula. The final section draws some
preliminary conclusions, particularly identifying the gap
between what is needed for employment and current skills
of secondary school leavers.
Definitions
The terms “skills,” “key competencies,” “formal economy,”
and “informal economy” are all in very common usage,
but an analytical approach requires their precise definition.
There are usually acknowledged to be three dimensions of
skill development: (i) cognitive; (ii) non-cognitive; and (iii)
technical; and these are the dimensions discussed in this
paper. Cognitive skills are the basic mental abilities we use
to think, study, and learn. They are the tools with which
technical and “life” skills are acquired; as such cognitive
skills are essential for everyone. Non-cognitive skills
refer to personality traits and behaviors. The term “skill”
is closely linked with but different from the term “key
competency”—which the Organisation for Economic Co-
Figure 1: 21st-century skills
Learning and
Innovation Skills—4Cs
Critical Thinking • Communication
Collaboration • Creativity
Life and
Career Skills
Core Subjects—3Rs
and 21st-Century Themes
Information
Media, and
Technology
Skills
Standards and
Assessments
Curriclum and Instruction
Professional Development
Learning Environment
Source: Partnership for 21st Century Skills.
Skills for Employability in Africa and Asia 7